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Guide List for Startups Applying to Y Combinator

152 points by kevinwdavid 12y ago

kevinwdavid 12y ago
Do let me know of any other links from YC partners or Alumni that could be useful for startups applying for Y Combinator.
- atmosx 12y ago
  Nice list. I wrote a blog post about 'Startup Istanbul 2014'. I have a section with quick advises from Michael Siebel to overseas entrepreneurs. It's pretty small list but I think it's a good quick-list of some general guidelines. The post is here[1] in case you wanna take a look. [1] http://www.convalesco.org/blog/2014/10/05/startup-istanbul-review/ http://www.convalesco.org/blog/2014/10/05/startup-istanbul-r...
  - kevinwdavid 12y ago
    Thanks ,good read .I have read his advice before
- ModernMech 12y ago
  I think you missed this one from Aptly, posted just last week: http://www.nancyhua.com/2014/10/08/successful-y-combinator-s13-application/ http://www.nancyhua.com/2014/10/08/successful-y-combinator-s... edit: Also, this site has a list of interview experiences of people who got accepted and rejected: http://ycuniverse.com/yc-applying-interviewees http://ycuniverse.com/yc-applying-interviewees In some ways reading about those who got rejected is a little more informative.
  - kevinwdavid 12y ago
    Thanks will update now.I added ycuniverse link in other resources section already!
sillysaurus3 12y ago
Whenever someone makes a system to select for the best, someone else will figure out how to game it. Preparation past a certain point might actually do more harm than good. It's a very comprehensive list, and I don't want to imply it's bad to organize such a list. I was just surprised at how much stuff has been written about "how to impress YC." The goal is to make something people want, not to impress YC. Thank you for the list though. It's an awesome collection. I just realized how negative I probably sounded, so I wanted to clarify that your time is very much appreciated in organizing this. I was just wondering how much time YC actually spends defending against people who are primarily trying to game YC rather than trying to make a valuable startup. Maybe it's not even an issue.
- seiji 12y ago
  It's more like a taste of their own medicine. YC exists largely to con VCs into being attracted to their golden child chosen companies[2], right? YC batches spend most of their time a.) making their product and b.) refining their pitches to trigger VC fad likability signals of "yah this be hyper megagrowth companay!" [Reminder: early funding is based mostly around personality and psychology first ("gut feelings")[1] largely triggered by the people factor, and then only company details second since early companies change so much in the long run. You can train people to give better first impression gut feelings to increase their funding chances easier than giving them billion dollar execution capability.] The focus around "we can teach you to manipulate the VCs by telling them what they want" also has an amusing effect: VCs are pandered to so tightly now with such high quality pitches, they get annoyed if you haven't been perfecting a 90 second pitch for 3 months straight. [Bitterness disclosure: I've been rejected by the people who funded Clinkle. Stab me in the eye with a rusty spoon already.] So, it only makes sense the base of manipulation also has a phase of pre-alignment too. But—all is not lost! When any process becomes too manipulation-focused, you can out maneuver the manipulators by being good+sincere instead of weak+manipulative. [2]: with the side effect of creating an extensive "network of friends"/mafia/collusion-sphere/[union?] so they can collectively kick the asses of People With Money And Power who treat any of them poorly. (but, this also creates a great "Let our powers combine!" capability of getting new things done quickly or helping others in need who are part of the family.) [1]: Are you under 24 with a Stanford background and were born a white male human person? Step right up for your free money!
eatitraw 12y ago
Tip: you can get advice posted on dead blogs(e.g. posterous) by using the wayback machine: http://archive.org/web/ http://archive.org/web/
- kevinwdavid 12y ago
  did u find any dead links from the list I posted ? Please let me know if you find.I checked before posting each link .
jndsn402 12y ago
Great list. Thanks.
AhtiK 12y ago
I have no data to back it up but if YC interview setup is even slightly inspired by the YC video guidelines [1] then being genuine is better than having scripted answers for everything. Of course there is a point for balance and being unprepared is not the way to go. [1] http://ycombinator.com/video.html http://ycombinator.com/video.html
- matthewarkin 12y ago
  Yea, I and a couple friends interviewed for S13 (maybe it was S12), and while preparing is definitely helpful there is no way you can have scripted answers to everything. That assumes you know what they are going to ask (and chances are if you know what they are going to ask, you didn't make something clear). We did a couple practice interviews with YC alums and the questions they asked ended up being quite different from what was actually asked in the room. To me at least, the interview seemed much more like a discussion about our idea and its merits and issues than what people may normally think an interview to be (of a VC asking you intense questions and pulling apart every single hole in your financial model). On the other hand, maybe they saw three college freshman and decided to go easy on us.
krambs 12y ago
Just have a great product (or idea), and be absolute domain experts. The rest will take care of itself.
kamikazi 12y ago
Hi, I'm applying this batch. Is there a way to print-preview my application to see how it'll look after submission? I'm mainly concerned about some of my answers which look lengthy. And does YC have bias against explanatory lengthy answers if they add substance to the meat? I've read somewhere that each partner gets only 2-mins to spend on an appln. With a 1.5 minute video and two founder profiles (which they seemed to have made out separately this time) how do they even skim through these apps? Or is it the alumni who reads deep and based on their comments (say if we are already pizza profitable, yes we are!) our app gets bumped up in priority queue of partners?

152 points by kevinwdavid 12y ago

Do let me know of any other links from YC partners or Alumni that could be useful for startups applying for Y Combinator.

atmosx 12y ago
Nice list. I wrote a blog post about 'Startup Istanbul 2014'. I have a section with quick advises from Michael Siebel to overseas entrepreneurs. It's pretty small list but I think it's a good quick-list of some general guidelines. The post is here[1] in case you wanna take a look. [1] http://www.convalesco.org/blog/2014/10/05/startup-istanbul-review/ http://www.convalesco.org/blog/2014/10/05/startup-istanbul-r...
- kevinwdavid 12y ago
  Thanks ,good read .I have read his advice before
ModernMech 12y ago
I think you missed this one from Aptly, posted just last week: http://www.nancyhua.com/2014/10/08/successful-y-combinator-s13-application/ http://www.nancyhua.com/2014/10/08/successful-y-combinator-s... edit: Also, this site has a list of interview experiences of people who got accepted and rejected: http://ycuniverse.com/yc-applying-interviewees http://ycuniverse.com/yc-applying-interviewees In some ways reading about those who got rejected is a little more informative.
- kevinwdavid 12y ago
  Thanks will update now.I added ycuniverse link in other resources section already!

sillysaurus3 12y ago

Whenever someone makes a system to select for the best, someone else will figure out how to game it. Preparation past a certain point might actually do more harm than good. It's a very comprehensive list, and I don't want to imply it's bad to organize such a list. I was just surprised at how much stuff has been written about "how to impress YC." The goal is to make something people want, not to impress YC. Thank you for the list though. It's an awesome collection. I just realized how negative I probably sounded, so I wanted to clarify that your time is very much appreciated in organizing this. I was just wondering how much time YC actually spends defending against people who are primarily trying to game YC rather than trying to make a valuable startup. Maybe it's not even an issue.

seiji 12y ago
It's more like a taste of their own medicine. YC exists largely to con VCs into being attracted to their golden child chosen companies[2], right? YC batches spend most of their time a.) making their product and b.) refining their pitches to trigger VC fad likability signals of "yah this be hyper megagrowth companay!" [Reminder: early funding is based mostly around personality and psychology first ("gut feelings")[1] largely triggered by the people factor, and then only company details second since early companies change so much in the long run. You can train people to give better first impression gut feelings to increase their funding chances easier than giving them billion dollar execution capability.] The focus around "we can teach you to manipulate the VCs by telling them what they want" also has an amusing effect: VCs are pandered to so tightly now with such high quality pitches, they get annoyed if you haven't been perfecting a 90 second pitch for 3 months straight. [Bitterness disclosure: I've been rejected by the people who funded Clinkle. Stab me in the eye with a rusty spoon already.] So, it only makes sense the base of manipulation also has a phase of pre-alignment too. But—all is not lost! When any process becomes too manipulation-focused, you can out maneuver the manipulators by being good+sincere instead of weak+manipulative. [2]: with the side effect of creating an extensive "network of friends"/mafia/collusion-sphere/[union?] so they can collectively kick the asses of People With Money And Power who treat any of them poorly. (but, this also creates a great "Let our powers combine!" capability of getting new things done quickly or helping others in need who are part of the family.) [1]: Are you under 24 with a Stanford background and were born a white male human person? Step right up for your free money!

eatitraw 12y ago

Tip: you can get advice posted on dead blogs(e.g. posterous) by using the wayback machine: http://archive.org/web/ http://archive.org/web/

kevinwdavid 12y ago
did u find any dead links from the list I posted ? Please let me know if you find.I checked before posting each link .

jndsn402 12y ago

Great list. Thanks.

AhtiK 12y ago

I have no data to back it up but if YC interview setup is even slightly inspired by the YC video guidelines [1] then being genuine is better than having scripted answers for everything. Of course there is a point for balance and being unprepared is not the way to go. [1] http://ycombinator.com/video.html http://ycombinator.com/video.html

matthewarkin 12y ago
Yea, I and a couple friends interviewed for S13 (maybe it was S12), and while preparing is definitely helpful there is no way you can have scripted answers to everything. That assumes you know what they are going to ask (and chances are if you know what they are going to ask, you didn't make something clear). We did a couple practice interviews with YC alums and the questions they asked ended up being quite different from what was actually asked in the room. To me at least, the interview seemed much more like a discussion about our idea and its merits and issues than what people may normally think an interview to be (of a VC asking you intense questions and pulling apart every single hole in your financial model). On the other hand, maybe they saw three college freshman and decided to go easy on us.

krambs 12y ago

Just have a great product (or idea), and be absolute domain experts. The rest will take care of itself.

kamikazi 12y ago

Hi, I'm applying this batch. Is there a way to print-preview my application to see how it'll look after submission? I'm mainly concerned about some of my answers which look lengthy. And does YC have bias against explanatory lengthy answers if they add substance to the meat? I've read somewhere that each partner gets only 2-mins to spend on an appln. With a 1.5 minute video and two founder profiles (which they seemed to have made out separately this time) how do they even skim through these apps? Or is it the alumni who reads deep and based on their comments (say if we are already pizza profitable, yes we are!) our app gets bumped up in priority queue of partners?